Mark Cuban Wished to Spend money on TikTok Years Thus far When It Was Musical.ly

• Mark Cuban tried to position money into Musical.ly, the platform that can develop to be TikTok.
• Cuban says the platform misplaced its spark, turning into “agency.”
• In an interview, Cuban talked about specializing in monetization usually harms the person expertise.

Mark Cuban tried to position money into TikTok’s precursor years to this point, however talked in regards to the firm turned him down.

Cuban instructed content material materials supplies creator and journalist Jules Terpak in an interview on her YouTube channel that he cherished utilizing TikTok when it was referred to as Musical.ly.

The platform rebranded to TikTok in 2017 when it was acquired by its present homeowners, ByteDance.

“I beloved it on account of I am going to merely flip it on and there could very effectively be 15,000 individuals hold instantly that I am going to converse to,” Cuban talked about of Musical.ly.

“It was insane. I beloved it. After which, because of it bought into the dances and every little issue, it was satisfying.”

Cuban instructed CNBC he tried to position money into Musical.ly however was unsuccessful on account of the corporate wasn’t on the lookout for to lift additional funds on the time.

Cuban instructed Terpak he thinks TikTok is much a lot much less satisfying than it was and “additional agency.”

He talked about that the dance-focused model of the app was dropping billions of {{{dollars}}}, “and so in some unspecified time in the end, they wished to begin making an attempt to make some cash.”

“I hottest it elevated when it was dances and music,” Cuban talked about. “Now it is a enterprise.”

Cuban talked about TikTok’s early magnificence was that its algorithm served purchasers with additional of what they hottest than one other platform.

“Now it is agency,” he talked about. “It is what number of followers are you able to get and the best way will you’re employed collectively these followers.”

There’s “a diminishing return” for patrons when platforms monetize, Cuban talked about, pushed by enterprise realities.

“Finally, for a lot of who’re there to generate earnings, it is important to determine how one can generate earnings,” he talked about.

Cuban’s ideas hit on an rising frustration many consumers have with TikTok, the place they’re flooded with adverts and plenty of see the platform as a pseudo-shopping channel.

Cuban has a TikTok account himself, the place he has 1.1 million followers — although he would not submit usually.

In 2023, he confronted some backlash for a “tip of the day” on incomes money, all through which he instructed individuals to chop as soon as extra on further lattes and streaming suppliers.

“You need to put that in a cash market account incomes 5, perhaps additional, % and watch that sucker develop,” he talked about. “That’ll make you’re feeling a whole lot elevated than that further latte that you just merely had that day.”

Some criticized the recommendation for being unrealistic and out of contact with the overwhelming majority of individuals.

Cuban did not cope with the critics, solely posting one completely different tip of the day to “be good” and “smile.”

In keeping with Bloomberg, Cuban has an internet price of spherical $8 billion. In 1990, he supplied his first tech company, MicroSolutions, for $6 million and went on to position money into loads of worthwhile corporations by the use of “Shark Tank.”

In October, Cuban launched he could very effectively be leaving “Shark Tank” after its sixteenth season to spend additional time collectively collectively along with his children.